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Kron, Trull lead rebound victory
MANKATO -- When Steve Trull hammered down a two-handed dunk for the first two points of SCSU's 83-74 victory over Minnesota State, Mankato Saturday, you could see the frustration lift off his and his teammates' faces.
Twenty-two hours after being dominated by South Dakota State, the 15th-ranked and NCC-leading Huskies (16-2, 6-1 NCC) put together a strong effort Saturday night to spoil the party for the Mavericks and their 3,683 fans at Taylor Center. The crowd set a new attendance record at the two-year-old arena.
St. Cloud led 40-36 at halftime against the Mavs, and used an 8-2 run at the beginning of the second to take even further control of the game. In fact, after an Alex Carlson three with 7:06 remaining, the Huskies had built their biggest lead of 18 points at 62-44. After a three-point play by MSUM's Ben Kaus that cut the lead back to 15, senior forward Jason Kron answered right back pushing the lead back up to 18.
Those two treys by Kron and Carlson capped a mad shooting spree by the two that put the game out of reach midway through the second half. Carlson nailed a jumper and another three, with Kron hitting two other shots from downtown from 11:18 remaining to the 6:41 mark. Kron led the Huskies with 26 points and had a game-high 13 rebounds.
"I got some good looks at the basket in the second half," Kron noted. "I haven't been getting too many good looks in the last few games. It was nice to have some good windows and my shot was falling."
"Kron is Kron," head coach Kevin Schlagel said about his senior from Cold Spring. "You have to love the guy. The bigger the game, the better he is."
Besides SCSU's shooting excellence, the Husky defense in the second half was vital in stopping Mankato's four-headed monster of senior forwards Jermaine Brown and Josh Ziemke, senior center Nick Ellenberger and guard Drew Carlson.
"We came flat at the beginning of both halves and that killed us," Mankato's Carlson said. "Offensively we usually don't have problems. But at the start of the second half they just locked us up. I give credit to them, they're a good team."
Trull and Kron shut down Brown completely, and only Carlson going insane from outside helped the Mavs inch back late in the game. However, the closest MSUM got was within six points at 76-70. Carlson scored 16 of his game-high 27 points in the second half before he fouled out with 1:53 left.
"The last four years we've played here it seems like Carlson is always trying to get them a big bucket at the end. The kid is uncanny," Schlagel said.
While Kron was dominating the second half with his defense and outside shooting, Trull controlled the first down low for the Huskies. The sophomore forward from Crystal Lake, Ill., punched in three loud jams in transition, and was a perfect seven of seven from the field in the first for 14 points. Trull finished with 19 points and five rebounds and only missed one shot. SCSU's goal going in was to establish an inside presence early, and they did just that with the 6-7 sophomore.
"We probably played our worst game of the season last night (against South Dakota State)," Trull said. "It was fun to come out tonight, establish our game, get down low and get some easy buckets. We wanted to show that last night was a fluke."
"We thought they were a perimeter-oriented team, but their big guys are strong and finish well," Carlson said.
The Huskies shot a stifling 57.7 percent in the first half, eventually cooling down to a mild 50 percent for the game. SCSU's play in transition is always important to their up-tempo play and they made the game a track meet with their up-and-down play in the first half. Setting the tempo to their style of play is what they always strive to accomplish.
"We basically base our offense off of (the University of) Kansas's offense," Trull said. "They really run-and-gun and we like to do that too."
"When guys like Steve get out and run it just opens up the floor for so many other people," Kron said. "Forrest (Witt) is getting defended really hard right now so it creates other opportunities for us. This was a fun game because of the tempo. That's why you play the college game"
Schlagel was a happy man after the game, especially since his team was blown out 80-57 by SDSU the previous night.
"We played a little better tonight, but I think a lot of last night had to do with South Dakota State," he said. " People have to remember that we're human. Instead of hanging our heads we came back tonight and played a pretty good basketball game. We're gonna get bumped once in a while, but we just have to bounce back."
The Jackrabbits put a slamming halt to SCSU's 13-game winning streak at Frost Arena in Brookings Friday. The Huskies shot only 32 percent from the field and from downtown in their worst shooting display of the season. SDSU countered by lighting it up for 60 percent from the field and 44 percent from beyond the arc. The 16th-ranked Jacks also dominated on the glass outrebounding St. Cloud by 26 (46-20).
The Jacks went on a 12-0 run early in the first half to build a 25-11 lead. SCSU never recovered from that early blow. The closest they ever got was within 12 points with 12:05 remaining in the second half at 49-37. Senior guard Austin Hansen led the Jacks with 19 points and senior center Adam Robinson added 12 points. Senior guard Chris Stoebner had a great all-around game with a game-high 11 rebounds, seven assists and nine points.
Nate Miller was the only Husky who appeared to step off the bus as he led his team with 17 points. Leading scorer Forrest Witt was held to 10 points.
As bad as the loss to the Jacks was, the Huskies rebounded in admirable fashion against Mankato. They still hold a one-game lead over SDSU and the University of Nebraska-Omaha in the NCC.
Trull finished the game Saturday with an emphatic dunk to quiet the Maverick comeback for good. It was his fourth dunk of the game. He had just finished what he started.
Around the Rim
-Taylor Center's previous attendance record was 3,377 against Bellevne University on Nov. 17, 2000.
-Mav point guard Jevin Budde had a game-high 10 assists. Budde sports a Steve Nash-like hairdo. No word on whether that helped him or not.
-Kron's 26 points and 13 rebounds were both season highs. Trull's 19 points tied a career high.
-Brown's alley-oop dunk with 14:02 left in the first half ignited the Mankato crowd into a frenzy. Brown had 13 points, nine of them coming in the first half.
-Mankato freshman Tyler Griffin played one minute off the bench. That minute was the final minute of the game in which he scored seven points. Griffin nailed two treys and hit one free throw. If there were ever an award for instant offense, the lanky Griffin would be a strong candidate.
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